


Welcome Back

by Popcan



Category: FF14, FFXIV, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Doma Restoration, F/M, Hien and Kiri are both very big dumb, Shadowbringers MSQ, after ghimlyt and Shadowbringers msq, these idiots begin to fall for one another
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27050212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Popcan/pseuds/Popcan
Summary: Taking place directly after a grueling battle on the First against Emet-Selch, Warrior of Light Kirishimi returns to the Source drained and mentally exhausted. While she struggles to understand what had taken place on the First, Tataru brings her a bit of good news; Lord Hien had been writing to her while she was away. Excited, Kiri takes off for Doma despite the heavy weight on her shoulders. Will these two ever confess for one another or suffer through a friendship?
Relationships: Hien Rijin & Warrior of Light, Hien Rijin x wol, Hien Rijin/Warrior of Light, Kiri x exhaustion, warrior of light x npc
Kudos: 17
Collections: Final Fantasy XIV - Hien Rijin x WoL Recommendations





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This piece has three parts to it, which I'll update with later. Just a small focus on Kiri's return to the Source after the gruesome events on the First. Just before leaving for the First at the Crystal Tower, Kiri thought she had heard Hien calling out to her. Whether it was real or not, she might never know. 
> 
> Kiri x Hien  
> Word Count: 1,755

“By the Twelve! Kirishimi, you look awful!” Tataru, somewhere in the Rising Stones, called out not even seconds after the Dragoon slugged her way inside. If it hadn’t been for a conveniently placed sitting area near the doorway, she was certain the room would have been sideways. With a hard thump she dropped herself into the wooden seat, blowing out any stagnant air that filled her lungs. 

Eager footfalls clapped the stonework floors before Tataru herself popped into Kiri’s bleary vision. A smudge of cheerful pink against the otherwise dismal colors of the Rising Stones. 

“Kirishimi?” The lalafellin lass tapped at the table, a hard echo that felt as if it were delivered upon the Dragoons head itself. With each tap Kiri flinched. “Are you not feeling well?” Concern. It was heavy in her fragile voice. It made the hyur’s frown only deepen. 

“Never better…” A lie through gritted teeth. 

Truth be told, she hadn’t been okay. Since returning from the First she had felt dismayed. While the venomous stirring in her chest had been alleviated, all that gathered Light residing beside her heart like a threatened snake, the nausea and migraine that accompanied it had persisted. Stress, the physical strain of it, thoughts of her fellow comrades left abandoned in the First while others filled her shoes here in Eorzea… All of it was so much to bear on her shoulders alone. She had even dared to break down before Ardbert, a crumbling tower of sorrow and regret, touched with determination to see the First be returned their stolen future. 

Her own future, in return for theirs. 

Kirishimi felt her head swim in the still fresh memories of it all. It had kept her from sleeping as Tataru and Krile had suggested. The light was gone, she reminded herself often in the eerie silence of her room. Yet it felt as if pieces still filled her; a thousand narrowed eyes buried within her stomach, whispering and hissing at her heart. Every time she closed her eyes, the desire to sleep powerful, she awoke in a cold sweat, thrashing in bed sheets and gasping for air. 

“Not much sleep, huh?” Tataru chimed once again. At least her soft voice was refreshing. “Then now’s a good a time as ever. We received some missives addressed to you in your absence!” Without missing a beat the smaller woman was off in a dash, slipping behind the bar. 

She tilted her head back while she waited, her silvery locks cascading down the back of her chair and whispering across her shoulders. 

Thump… Thump… 

The migraine nestled at her temple continued to persist. 

“Here we are!” Tataru announced her return with a smack of parchment to the table’s surface. “Though I don’t suppose they all are missives.” She gave a mischievous laugh which spurred Kirishimi to lean forward. 

A neat little stack of several letters sat before her, all penned with her full name and in lush, almost beautiful writing. Who would have written to her? Perhaps Count Edmont? The elezen had been somewhat of a fatherly figure during her stay in Ishgard, even presenting himself after her unfortunate downfall at Ghimlyt. He had been endearing and kind; she would have to pay him a visit now that she had returned home. 

Home… 

Did she truly believe Eorzea to be home after all these years? Never before, even as an adventurer, had she believed there was a place to call home for the likes of her. Not when the fishing village she had been raised in was left a smoldering pile of ash. 

Kirishimi shook her head of such thoughts. It was in her best interest, especially now, to not allow herself to dwell. Instead she gathered the letters, the paper itself almost an art form beneath her fingertips, and opened the first. It bore a seal she was not familiar with at a glance, perhaps it had not originated from Ishgard as she had previously imagined? 

The letter itself opened nearly on its own, as if it had once been read by another party. Mismatched eyes glanced over to Tataru who had taken a seat across from her, the girl smiled brightly in return. Would it be so much of a surprise to her that Tataru and perhaps Krile too, had taken a peek? 

Returning to the letter, Kiri took her time in reading the beautiful script. 

‘Kirishimi, I hope this letter finds you well. Full glad am I, and the rest as well, to hear you’ve recovered after Ghimlyt. All we had been told was that Ser Aymeric would have you taken to Ishgard. Once I had heard you would be off to yet another grand adventure, I tried to contact you, but I was far too late. They told me you had already departed.  
When you return, whole and hale, it would hearten me if you could pay us a visit. By ‘us’ I mean all of Doma, of course! Or perhaps ‘tis I who wishes to see you the most. I have much to discuss with you!’ 

\- Hien Rijin 

She found herself murmuring the penned name out loud, eyes widening. Memories of Ghimlyt drifted by behind clouded eyes. The crackle of a dimmed fire, embers dancing and flickering like man-made fireflies that died against the blackened sky, and Hien’s hand over hers. The gentleness of his fingertips against her strained white knuckles. That little twist of a smile on his lips as he drew near… 

Tataru laughed abruptly, jostling Kiri from her daydream of almost kisses and ash. “That certainly seemed to help.” She teased of course, gesturing vaguely to the dragoon across from her. But she wasn’t wrong. 

For the first time since arriving she felt light. She felt the air in her lungs, a refreshing intake where it otherwise seemed strangled. Even the world around her had brightened considerably; fresh, vivid paint on an old tarnished canvas. The beating of her heart was that of a rabbit beneath her breast, pounding with an eagerness to run and stretch her legs to new found freedom. 

“He wrote a great deal to you in your absence.” The girl beside her continued, nothing but warm smiles and light chuckles. “Krile and myself gave him a scare though, I’m afraid. He hasn’t written since then.” 

So they had read it. Kirishimi’s suspicion was accurate, although she hardly had reason to care. What damage had been dealt to her social life while she was away could surely be remedied in person. 

Before Kiri knew it herself she had pushed aside her chair and rose. Her legs, weak as they were, threatened to buckle however. In a flash, Tataru was at her side. 

“Kirishimi, you need rest! Surely a social call can wait!” 

“N-No… No it can’t. I heard him, Tataru…” Kiri fought against the rising nausea that accompanied a whirling light headed sensation. Sucking in a breath, the dragoon marched for the door. “I knew I heard him callin’ my name…” 

\- - -

Hien folded his arms across his chest, taking a moment to enjoy the afternoons sun across his features. He had spent the better half of the morning lending his strength where needed in the Enclave, helping move lumber to and fro or even helping serve lunch to his fellow Domans as they moved to rebuild what they had once lost. 

Children laughing had been the entertainment throughout the day. It brought him strength to press on hearing just how cheerful they had been. To return home at last. And hearing such marvelous misadventures of their time spent in Mor Dhona? An absolute delight while he took breaks with his fellow workers. Tales of searching for long forgotten treasure, lending helping hands whenever available… But Hien’s favorites? The stories the children told, with such a glitter a light in their eyes, with Kirishimi accompanying them in this new world that was Eorzea. The things the kids made her do! Yet she never argued, simply going along for the ride; to ensure their safety. 

A pang of sorrow swelled in his chest at the mere thought of her. Had she truly recovered in Ishgard? How was she fairing on her new journey? Would she… Forget about Doma? About.. Him? 

Just as thoughts clouded his eyes and brought a frown to his lips, the aetheryte behind him sang out with the telltale chime of an arrival. The giggling children fell silent as Hien turned, only to be replaced with cheers and shouts. 

“Kirishimi!!” 

Hien’s world spun in a blur as his heart jumped in his throat at the name. Could it be? His breathing stopped. 

Silver hair danced in the summer breeze, a smile dusting her lips. 

Before he knew it, his body lurched forward in a full sprint. As he neared, however, his own grin began to fade. At a distance it would have been impossible to see but as he drew closer, he saw in her the exhaustion that plagued her. Her usually fiery eyes seemed dim beneath heavy lashes, her lips curved but with great effort on her part, and a wobble as she moved to greet him. 

He threw open his arms just as she began to fall, her body crashing against his chest before they both sunk to the ground in a bundled embrace. 

“Kirishimi, are you alright?! By the kami,” He turned his head to the gathered children, “Fetch a healer, please.” Although a demand, Hien was never once crude toward the youth. Even in his state of distress and worry, he kept his voice level and soft. Once they had spun on their heels and bolted away, he was once again free to turn his attention to the woman so weak in his arms. 

With delicate fingertips brushing her cheek he swept aside loose snowy hair and tucked it behind her ear. She felt blazingly warm. Yet she endeavored to look up at him. Even daring a laugh. A tired, feeble laugh. 

“Hien… So glad am I… Ta’ see ya’…” A murmur on her lips. 

And his heart drummed. The same way it had at Ghimlyt. The exact same as it pounded in his ribs when they had liberated Doma. A mimic of the heartbeat he felt when they first sparred at the Steppes and she had laughed well into the night. 

He drew her closer still, letting her head rest in the crook of his shoulder where he could feel her staggered breath against his collarbone. 

“As am I. Welcome back, friend.”


	2. You're Not Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares plague Warrior of Light/Darkness Kirishimi while she's a guest in Doma. Struggling to reclaim herself from terrifying thoughts, a certain prince offers as much help as he can provide.

Doma was beautiful when the blossoms were in full bloom. Bursts of delightful pink that scattered on the breeze, falling as if raindrops around her. Sunshine broke through the branches in dazzling curtains, much like rays of light piercing the surface of the ocean. Alive and warm, dancing and shifting with the current and the wind. 

At her feet, a blanket of fallen blossoms that dusted the stonework of the enclave. She knelt to pluck one, to feel the silk soft petals between her fingertips. If she had been given the means, surely she would have gathered them all in her arms and tossed them over head, to be caught on the wind and set free once more. 

“Kirishimi?” A voice beckoned. 

In response she rose with eyes alight. She knew the voice now. So well, like a tune one simply does not forget. With it stirred a beating in her chest and a tightness in her lungs, excitement. 

Hien was calling for her. 

Yet when mismatched eyes came to rest upon his image there was no smile painted across his lips, or a laugh that echoed. Instead his body pitched forward and brought him to his knees writhing in pain. 

All at once her world shifted. A candle snuffed out. Cerulean blue skies that stretched miles overhead in an instant became heavy with ebony ink. The sun was a fiery eclipse, an eye opening and glaring down upon her. The petals of lost blossoms nothing more than cottony white feathers. 

Ice filled her veins. Her skin felt alive, slithering like serpents and constricting her. The air grew heavy with soot and ash, a familiar scent that made her gag. Carried on the wind she could make out distant cries, women and children alike screaming out for mercy. 

It was Holminster Switch all over again. 

“Hie-!!” A failure of her voice produced bile. Splattered at her feet, like pearls liquefied, the familiar telltale sign of the light and its scourge rotting her from the inside. 

Another try, desperate to call his name. More putrid substance welled on her tongue and spilled over her lips. 

“Kirishimi, why?” Hien’s voice became a whisper against the din of rupturing fires and collapsing buildings. Kirishimi looked up through tear strained eyes, horrified to see the once prince of Doma now tainted by the light; a mess of contorted limbs and twitching wings. 

“All you know how to do is survive…” A whisper at her ear. The voice itself was unfamiliar but it made Kirishimi shiver. Death itself would have been a pleasure to hear instead. 

Fear permeated her body. As if the sickening rot from the light hadn’t been enough. Now her own muscles betrayed her; a mind begging her not to look at the owner of this hushed tone. So delicate it came but felt no less than ice. 

“Others die… but _**we**_ survive.” 

\- - - 

Thunder cracked in the distance. 

Kiri jolted at the sound, having felt as if shaken awake by the din. Panic had her heart pounding in her ears while she gasped for air, no longer choking on the stagnant light that filled her mouth like blood but moments ago. Despite the humidity in the air, thanks to the approaching thunderstorm and a window left open, she couldn’t control the violent shaking in her hands; the ice that skimmed her skin and chilled her to her core. She drew herself close, knees to her chest as a sob croaked in her throat. 

Another dream. A nightmare that haunted her. Tears spilled down the crest of her cheeks, dampening her blanket and getting caught in her lashes. 

She was many things; strong, determined, kind, and cheerful. But alone? When the darkness whispered corrosive taunts and belittled her beneath closed eyes? She was weak, broken, and above all else, scared. The thought of giving her life up for the people of the First hadn’t even been a question at the time, she would have gladly given it and more. Of course it terrified her, she was only mortal, after all. But with death no longer looming over head and a future restored… What then was it that scared her so? 

A knock rasped at the door and suddenly she was made aware of her surroundings. The bedding beneath and around her was unfamiliar but soft and plush, even as it was laid out on the floor. Faint light accompanied with the occasional flash of lightning came in through a window, illuminating just enough of the room around her to tell she was not in Eorzea. 

“Kirishimi, are you awake?” A whisper breathed through the door had the Dragoon feeling light headed. So… She really had run off to Doma? 

With a hand knotting through snowy locks and a sigh at her lips, she returned the whisper. “Yes. Come in.” 

Softly the door peeled back and light poured in, temporarily blinding her as it absorbed the long stretches of shadow and ate the gloom. A gentle, ever so tiny flickering flame of a lit candle, casting dancing shadows across Hien’s features. He closed the door quietly behind him, the paper doors here in Doma so light they hardly made a sound to begin with. 

Greeted with a light smile, twisted as it was by the candles light, Kirishimi swore the ice that pricked her skin had begun to melt. Still, she drew her blankets close and turned her gaze elsewhere. 

He was speechless while he observed the room. The blankets tossed about and twisted around her, the mess of her hair in knots from thrashing, and her shivering frame. The young lord sat himself down by the door where he stood, the candle carefully placed to the side. 

“You look awful.” Hien spoke with the lightest touch of a laugh in his voice; half teasing but honest. 

“How many times do I gotta suffer hearin’ that today?” She groaned, resting her forehead on the tops of her knees. 

“Today?” He repeated in surprise. “Kirishimi… I don’t believe you’ve had visitors today.” To this the woman tilted her head just enough to peer at him through knotted locks. “Well, never mind that for now. How are you fairing?” 

“Said so yerself, I look awful. Sums up how I feel…” Awful felt like a gross understatement. Hideous and vile? More accurate. She felt as though snakes wore her skin and she, nothing more than a grotesque puppet. Although the First had been restored and the Lightwardens vanquished… how much longer would she have to endure this maddening disease of the mind? That every slight creak of her bones or twist of her stomach had her weary the light had returned. The feeling she was still a threat to those around her. Toxic. 

“Kirishimi,” Hien moved to take her hand in his, stretching the small distance between them, but hesitated when she flinched. His voice faltered before he swallowed. “You needn’t explain what took place on your journey, if that is your desire, but please allow me to be of some assistance? I will lend you my ear and shoulder if that is your wish. You need not shy from me.” 

Even in the dim light Kiri saw the glimmer of sorrow in his steady gaze. Had he felt as helpless in this as she was? He endeavored to inspire her once before, at Ghimlyt Dark, with honey sweet words about a favorable future for everyone. But for this? The enormity of all she had gone through, what she and the other Warriors of Darkness, had survived; how did one even begin to provide succor? 

His smile wavered when her response was silence. A roll of distant thunder echoed between them. 

“I- … Uh, I will let you sleep, then.” Hien’s tone had changed. It made her heart ache. The hand he had so nearly used to reach for her own now searched instead for the candle at his side. 

Then stopped. 

Her hand, calloused as it was, took his and squeezed. He was warm; a strong burning fire in the dead of winter. Kirishimi drew his hand toward herself and pressed her forehead to his knuckles. 

“I don’t wanna hurt anyone,” With her head lowered and hair obscuring her features from his view, Kiri allowed the wrenching feeling in her chest to take control. Her lips quivered on stammered words, tears causing the colors of the room to bleed together. She hiccuped with hushed crying. “But I don’t wanna be alone.” 

The hand she held, damp with tears, moved to cup her cheek. Such heat generated from a simple touch; it felt like fire against her ice kissed flesh. She pressed her cheek into his palm, too afraid to look at the man before her. Vulnerable and broken had never been her forte. It made her feel weak, ill suited to be a Warrior of Light but… It also made her feel human. 

“You are never alone, Kirishimi.” 

With another crash of thunder outside, Hien pulled her close, snatching the blanket as an afterthought and drawing it around her still shaking shoulders. Carefully he reached over and snuffed out the candle between his index finger and thumb. 

\- - - 

It was the subdued curtains of golden light across her cheek that stirred her that morning. The muted rays felt as if an extra blanket had been cast over her. For the first time in what could only be ages, she had felt a bubbling delight swell in her stomach beneath such blessed light. Her time in Norvrandt had truly unsettled her, to come so close to shunning any from of light hanging overhead. But this? With the scent of a rainstorm still hanging on the breeze that lazily danced through the open window, the smell of the ever constant flow of the One River. It was as if she were home. 

Kirishimi curled herself tight on her side, burying her cheek against her pillow and squeezing shut her eyes against the morning whispers of an approaching day. Even in her half conscious state of mind, the enticing tug of more sleep weighing heavy on her eyelids, she could scarcely believe morning had arrived at all. The night before, wracked with nightmare after nightmare, it would have been a mercy to knock her unconscious. Yet despite the physical pain each waking nightmare had wrought upon her body, aching her down to the bone, and the exhaustion that clouded her mind… She had still managed to drift asleep and wake the next day. Which of the Twelve would she have to thank for such kindness? 

But none of the Twelve were to be praised. A sudden hum of whispered snoring at her side had the Dragoon’s eyes fluttering open in surprise. Blinking away the morning haze she tilted her head, glimpsing the miracle that had held her throughout the endless night. 

Hien, with his raven locks undone and strewn across the pillow, slept beside her. The gentle rise and fall of his chest beneath their shared blanket, the very pillow she had curled into and nuzzled but moments ago, she had grown accustomed to the lull of his breathing that she could scarcely hear it. But now, awake in realization as she was, found the sound of him startlingly loud. From the slowed pumping of his sleeping heart down to the incoherent mutters between rhythmical breathing. 

How could she so easily forget what had transpired the night before? As a storm echoed inside and out, her mind muddled by that which terrified her most; Hien had appeared to still her frightened heart. So effortlessly it had been for him to accept her in such a vulnerable state. A famed Warrior of Light, who moved unflinching into the jaws of uncertainty every day, a weeping mess before the lord of Doma. Yet despite it all, he had gathered her in his arms. As tears stained his evening robes and hiccuped stories whispered into the crook of his neck, he had held her not as if she were the Warrior of Light but as a person. His hands so gentle as he listened to her tale of misery, lovingly caressing her back and squeezing tight her hand when she faltered. 

Kirishimi propped herself on her elbow now, entranced by the memories of the man beside her. His arm that had been wrapped around her middle, holding her tight against him, slipped aside with her movement and yet he did not wake. How long had it taken him to fall into such peaceful slumber that night? Her last hazy memory, before exhaustion consumed her whole, had been that of Hien’s gentle smile hidden in the dark of the room while his free hand played with hers, lacing his calloused fingers with hers, tracing the lines of her palm and dusting fingertips across her knuckles. Such a simple thing, yet she couldn’t help but feel a flush of heat across her cheeks. It had felt so intimate. Delicate, soft, a whisper of a touch but warm and comforting. 

She leaned forward now, reaching out and hesitating only for a heartbeat before brushing aside his mess of raven hair from his brow. Beneath his lashes she noticed a bloom of dark hues, purples and blues, and felt her heart sink at the realization. 

“You must’ve been up all night…” Her whisper filled the quiet. She drew closer still, resting her cheek against her own propped shoulder, examining all the little features that was Hien in the morning light. From the silvery scar that slashed through his brow, to the crook of his nose she had scarcely noticed before now. 

Kiri felt a sudden tightening in her throat the longer she found herself taking in the sight of him. A pull at her heart that stung at her mismatched eyes. Tears threatened to spill over her cheeks yet she managed a smile. Despite her stories, tales of feeling like spiders and snakes had filled her skin, of how Sineaters and Lightwardens had so nearly claimed her, that a world was so nearly destroyed by her own power… Despite all this and more, he had stayed the night with her, even chancing to fall asleep at her side. Either he was truly a stupid fool of a man or… 

He was not frightened of her. 

The dragoon hiccuped as the thought washed over her like a wave of relief. She had been terrified of her own shadow for years, haunted by nightmares and now plagued with memories of a monster stirring beneath her flesh. And yet here he was, just as vulnerable as she felt. 

Kiri swept back locks of silver hair before they could fall over her cheeks as she leaned in close to Hien. His warm breath tickled her ear but still she drew in. 

“Thank you, Hien.” Another hushed whisper that only the few lingering dust motes caught in sunlight would hear. She planted her lips against his cheek, silently praying to any one of the Twelve or even the Kami if they were listening, that he could rest just a little while longer. 


End file.
